


Hearts of Void

by INeedMoreHadesBeforeISwoon



Series: Primordial Lore [4]
Category: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Lore Olympus (Webcomic)
Genre: Crossover, Easter Eggs, Established Relationship, F/M, Feral Behavior, Headspace, I can't help myself, I swear I planned this all along, Including ERs from previous works, Including OCs from Previous Works, Karaoke, King of Fertile Earth, M/M, Meta, Nightclub, No Beta, No Smut, Shadows & Truths, Strange-form Intimacy, Strange-form Power, Titans Reborn, Worldbuilding, Worth Re-Reading, You'll know 'em when you see 'em, just re-read already, seriously, various original characters - Freeform, yet - Freeform, you should re-read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:34:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21835273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/INeedMoreHadesBeforeISwoon/pseuds/INeedMoreHadesBeforeISwoon
Summary: Ladies and gents, this is the moment you've waited for....This work is the Meta-Headspace-Crossover between both the Primordial Lore series and the King of Fertile Earth Series.To completely catch most of the *visible* Easter Eggs within this fic, you should have read the ENTIRETY of Titans Reborn, and at least through chapter 34 of Shadows and Truths. You could probably be mostly least-confused if you have read at least through chapter 9 of Shadows and Truths, but there may still be a few points of oddness if that's all you've gotten done.You should also have read Scary-oke and Harvest Feasts and Delightful Treats in their entirety to understand why Karaoke is the thing here.There are a few Easter Eggs that CAN ONLY be found and understood entirely if you have completely read EVERY WORD of Titans Reborn, Shadows and Truths, and both parts of King of Fertile Earth.Feel free to re-read.
Relationships: Erebus (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore) & Other(s), Hades/Persephone (Lore Olympus), Hera/Zeus (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Hermes/Thanatos (Lore Olympus)
Series: Primordial Lore [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1494668
Comments: 6
Kudos: 10





	1. Party Time at Heart of Void

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Scary-oke](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21162236) by [INeedMoreHadesBeforeISwoon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/INeedMoreHadesBeforeISwoon/pseuds/INeedMoreHadesBeforeISwoon). 



> Song information and links are in end-notes. Please feel free to skim down if you must listen while you read. Otherwise, feel free to listen after, or not at all! I got all I wanted in the fic itself!
> 
> Set around 2000 years after the events that ended Shadows and Truths, and just a few weeks after the end of the third chapter of Harvest Feasts and Delightful Treats:
> 
> It's the Winter Solstice party at Heart of Void, and many Underworld Corps employees are ready for a grand-slam bash on the longest night of the year....
> 
> And one goddess with a deeply-held grudge in her heart is about to step into the darkness and face some hard truths long hidden in shadows....

She stood in this boxed in back-alley, the swirling indigo and heather clouds high overhead boiling and roiling like ocean waves, and she couldn’t seem to get her feet to move. The pavement-and-gravel beneath her sandals was cold, dead, utterly without potential.

She breathed deeply and tasted nothing but mist and winter on her tongue.

The pounding beats and subtly thrumming harmonies pooling behind the walls of the building in front of her would probably give her a headache, but somewhere in that dark building, somewhere in this land of death and cold unfeeling nothingness, her daughter was waiting.

Her daughter, who seemed less and less her daughter as the long years rolled by.

The single door in the wall of the building before her stood open, had stood open for the minutes she’d been standing here, unsure if she could bring herself to walk through that gaping maw of darkness. Only the occasional flickering of a green or purple or blue light illuminated that shadowed rectangle from within, though this open space boxed in between massive buildings of dark-and-darker stone and metal was lit by the brightly gleaming sign high overhead.

She glanced up once more, still not believing that a place so dark and hard could play host to something so elegant and brilliant.

_Heart of Void…._

_Can something made of nothing but darkness even have a heart?_

She knew she wasn’t only thinking of the Underworld itself….

_How can she think she loves someone cold enough to rule a place like this…?_

_He’s turned her into something I don’t recognize anymore…._

_I have to help her see…._

_She doesn’t belong here…._

_She never belonged here…._

The long years that her daughter had been raising her children in this dark and damp place had been the only concession Demeter had been willing to make. She’d fought hard to have her daughter and her grandchildren in the mortal realm for at least half the year, but the three Kings had been unanimous from the start:

Children of rulers of realms were raised in their realms.

How else were they to learn their responsibilities and roles?

Demeter had grudgingly bent to the will of her daughter’s husband and his brothers; until the children were nearly grown. She had then petitioned for her daughter to spend half the year in the mortal realm, tending her duties as Spring’s Goddess and the Priestess of the Harvest’s Bounty. After all, she’d spent nearly a quarter-century in the dark and distant Underworld, playing Queen to a terrifying ancient King:

It had been long past time for Spring’s presence to be felt _in_ the mortal realm once more.

But then Demeter’s youngest grandson had been all-but-murdered. Discussions had been tabled, negotiations postponed.

And then he miraculously returned to life, and Persephone had refused to entertain any mention of being forced to leave her husband and son.

Years went by, and finally, _finally_ , her daughter’s youngest son married, and Persephone had been made to see how lonesome the long years had been for her mother. Demeter felt no regret or remorse at plying that heavy guilt-trip.

She’d gotten what she wanted, and her darling Kore had spent springs and summers in the mortal realm’s vast reaches for nearly two millenniums.

At least, until the last few years….

She’d been rebelling, again: returning to the mortal realm later and later, leaving for her husband’s cold homeland earlier and earlier.

Oddly, neither the Springs nor the Harvests seemed to suffer, but Demeter could only assume that some dark magic was at work: some illusion or ancient power was forcing things out of the natural order.

Spring should not be as vibrant as it had been, as early, if the Goddess who ruled it was not present….

_She has to see how he’s manipulating her…._

_She has to come home…._

Squaring her shoulders, Demeter finally took that first step toward the darkness of that gaping doorway. Passing beneath the beam overhead, she felt herself a child for a moment:

_Who needs doorways that tall…?_

_Manipulation. Intimidation._

_Curse this Underworld and all who bind my daughter here…._

_She doesn’t belong here. She never did. She’s so small…._

_She doesn’t belong anywhere near the clutch of the Titans that have been bound here for eons…._

_Don’t worry, my darling Kore._

_I’ll bring you home, and you’ll be okay._

* * *

The green-skinned goddess entered through the deeply-shadowed doorway, and Hades swallowed drily, the scotch in his hand doing nothing to ease his nerves, half-drained though it already was.

_She came._

_She actually came._

_Welp, nothing for it then._

_We’re actually doing this, actually gonna get up there and…._

_Wait…._

_Where is my darling co-star? She ought to be here, ought to help me explain things to Demeter…._

_…._

_Shit._

_Okay._

_Breathe, Hades._

_Here. We. Go._

“Demeter, glad you could make it. Can I get you something to drink?”

“No. Where’s my daughter? She said she wanted to talk; I’m here, and I don’t want to have to stay any longer than I have to.”

_Wow._

_Fine, then._

“I’m no jail warden over my wife. I regrettably don’t know just where she is at the moment, but I know things are about to get rolling with this party, and it would be my distinct pleasure to show my wife’s mother a good time while she’s otherwise occupied elsewhere. Would you like to take a seat while we wait for the Queen?”

Demeter eyed him askance, obviously suspicious of the genteel inflections and debonair nuances he’d thrown through his little speech. But she nodded, albeit stiff as ironwood planking, but together they moved to an empty table near the center of the seating area.

The upholstery on the booth benches were all done in shades of black and maroon and wine-burgundy; no booth was exactly colored like any other, and overall, the impression was one of oddly-comfy homeliness. Not quite haphazard in design, the subtle mismatching was intriguing and enchanting.

Demeter, with a look of discontent, chose the single lighter-colored heathery-grey booth left open as many other patrons took seats. Hades slid in opposite his … _mother-in-law_ … in the horseshoe of leathery-seeming….

_Huh. It’s not fabric. Or, well, how does Arry say it…?_

_Not-fabric._

Hades glanced around appreciatively at the décor rather than trying to fill the building awkward silence. The strategically-placed columns supported the exposed rafters and ductwork high overhead, some thirty feet or more above the tabletops and the raised platform across the dance floor’s open space. The bar behind the seating area echoed softly with tinkling glassware as the various bartenders took advantage of the momentary lull, and the soft murmurs of expectant voices began to sway and shift in the slightly-chilled air of this club’s open spaces.

There was no artwork on the walls, but there were soft shimmerings of something like stardust; and it seemed, if he looked just past a swirl or curl of that silvery shimmering stuff:

It seemed the pattern would change. No streak or swirl of that silver gleam was ever the same twice, he would have sworn it before a Tribunal of the highest order.

_And thinking of which…._

Hades nodded, raising his glass in silent toast to the golden form of Hera at another table near the far-left wall. Zeus was also at the table, pale white hair and skin gleaming softly, his eyes a soft grey-violet tonight.

_He seems…._

_Calm._

_Good. Would hate to throw him back on the lines…._

_He’s actually done really well…._

_Thanks again, Erebus. Your justice…. It was the right choice._

**_You’re welcome, my Aidon…._ **

_SHIT! I…. I didn’t realize you were listening…._

**_Always, little one…._ **

_Where…?_

**_Later…._ **

Humor thrummed through his mind, and he had to suppress a shudder at the involuntary fear-response of exposure to a being so powerful and Other as to be nearly incomprehensible.

He saw Demeter shiver slightly, and knew she’d felt a little of the overflow of that massive and ancient presence.

In fact, it seemed most of the patrons in this nightclub had sensed the King of Shadows’ minor intrusion, even if that lanky-tall being of moonlight and smoke was nowhere to be seen at the moment. The murmurs died further, though some increased in enthusiasm.

The owner of Heart of Void did have a bit of a fan-club, these days….

In fact, Hades had heard rumors of incredible performances given by the Titan King and Queen over the years. It just….

_His tastes and mine don’t quite mesh anymore, not really._

_I mean, there was that one Halloween where he and Arry did that thing…._

**_That_ ** _was impressive. But…._

_I don’t know. I still can’t help but see him as my old Uncle kinda thing, and…._

_It’s just weird to see him be all sexy singing to his Queen…._

_Waaaaay too sexy…._

_Only need one fertility deity in my life, and that’s **my** Queen._

_Now…._

“Hades, honestly, where is my daughter!?”

“Demeter, if I knew, I would-….”

“Evening, Heart of Void!”

A short burst of applause met the raucous voice that blasted through the surrounding speakers from the mic-stand on the stage. The willowy goddess stood in a column of shadow, one hand wrapped around the metal pole holding the microphone at her chin’s height, and it seemed she flicked her first two fingers in an impatient gesture without letting go of her grip on the thing.

The column of shadow died in a blinding wash of creamy-white light, and another round of applause rocked the echoing open space in this half-lit nightclub’s expanse.

The manager of Heart of Void nodded slowly, accepting the accolade and well-wishes of the patrons with all the dignity of a queen. Her two-toned features gleamed in the spotlight: on her right side, wine and plum colors soaked up the light, while on her left, moonbright and silver-shine reflected like diamonds in a darkened mine.

“Thank you all for coming out this evening, to our Solstice Celebration!” More applause, and lots of it at that, as the crowd got caught up in Khimeria’s raspy-voiced enthusiasm. “It’s not our first, but it’s certainly shaping up to be our largest, and that’s all thanks to our wonderful King and Queen of Underworld Its Self! A big _thank you_ to them, from all of us here at Heart of Void, for letting us play host to your own party this year!”

One silver-gleam eye and one fuchsia-floral eye met his own black ones, and Hades raised his half-full glass once more in acceptance; his cocked-high eyebrow asked the question he still needed answered. He knew his oldest granddaughter would get the message.

_Where’s Persephone?_

Instead of answering, Khimeria swept her eyes over the crowd, her lowering brows and hunching shoulders intimating some secretive suspense.

“So, Heart of Void…. Whaddaya say we kick this party off right…?”

Thunderous applause and cheers as a lithely-prowling silver being mounted the stairs at the back of the stage, emerging from the shadows as another spotlight, softer and more ambient than the glaring one lighting Khimeria’s particolored form, burst into being like a star in the cosmic expanse.

“Your Queen of Truths and King of Shadows thought they’d claim the first slot on the karaoke card. Is that alright with all of you out there?!?!”

The waterfall of noise was deafening as the crowd went wild and electric guitars began pouring through the speakers. Khimeria leapt off the stage, leaving the mic-stand for Ath’s lean fingers to take possession; taller by shoulders-and-head than many of the gods and other immortals flooding the dance floor, Khimeria was easy to track as she made her steady-sure, supple-weaving way toward another massive being standing near the far corner of the bar, a laptop and notepad resting beside his left elbow.

This Titan wore a traditional himation, his right shoulder bare; it could have been the play of shadows and light, but Hades knew from experience that it wasn’t:

This being was a midnight-blue so dark, it could have been black, and the pale ripples and swirls of moonlight that shifted beneath his skin made it seem that one could fall into the river of cosmic power of which his skin told truth. His eyes were a brilliant spring-sky azure, though, and they almost glowed as Khimeria danced on lilting step to bring her lips to his.

Hades blushed as the soft pulse of love rocked the realms with that gentle kiss, his attention finally snagged by Demeter’s darkly-glowering face.

She stared at Ath as the silver Queen swayed softly behind the mic-stand; her glare could have sliced the meat from a frozen haunch of steer.

Ath’s voice blared out then, perfectly matched in clear-yet-powerful tones to the obvious heavy metal sound of the music that faded only slightly, allowing her vocals to snag the attention of the subtly-begun-and-steadily-forming mosh pit near the edge of the stage.

_“Far away is the dawn from your eyes;_

_Only darkness: only darkness I see in your eyes.”_

Demeter huffed loudly, even over the still-heavy guitars and drums, and crossed her arms; she leaned back into the booth, and Hades had to stifle a laugh at her petulant expression. But then both of them stared in disbelief as a shadow-made-life draped down in sinewy coils from the rafters far above the stage. A rowdy cheer went up from the mosh pit as the long, heavy-seeming lengths of what could have been a snake from some ancient jungle’s vastness if only it had been living flesh puddled behind Ath’s lean body; her face split into a feral smile as she took in a breath for her next lines, and the shadows turned to smoke, boiling up around and behind her….

_“Fearlessly, I’m leaning on you,_

_In the shadows, in your world.”_

The smoke and mist broke apart, revealing a bone-white face with flaring maroon eyes, and spidery white hands crept around Ath’s torso to mold over her own fingers on the mic-stand. Coal-grey lips parted, and a raspy voice, sounding hoarse and honey-smooth all at once, took over the song.

_“And there you find me:_

_My mind is open for your mind,_

_In the night….”_

Ath leaned back into the obviously-there torso behind her; the still-roiling smoke and shadows concealed both of their frames in ever-shifting patterns of darkness and light. The music swelled, and their voices blended in a strange harmony as Erebus and Ath-naa sang together into the microphone, cheekbones brushing against each other in obvious intimacy and mutual feeling.

_“ **Love** / Loving your lightless soul_

_Is far too easy._

**_Still_ ** _/ Still in your lightless heart_

_There is some meaning!_

_Loving your living soul is just too easy._

_The power of life is death!_

_Come and join eternity: cold kiss!”_

Erebus tore the microphone from the top of the stand then, moving to face Ath-naa as the crowd cheered and sang along with the Shadow King.

Obviously, this song was a favorite at Heart of Void….

_“Show me how is the world from your eyes,_

_Cause I’m envious: I’m envious of your endless light._

_Just one kiss will release me from life._

_I know you want it to; I feel you do!”_

Ath-naa lunged closer then, silver light flaring out from her body’s angles and lines, mingling with Erebus’ still swirling and coiling shadows and smoke, a dance unlike anything the realms had ever seen as power pulsed like a heartbeat through this wide-opened building full of rapidly-enthused Underworld citizens and Hades’ own employees. Her voice rang out like steel on a battlefield, silver under starlight:

_“You know I’m longing!_

_You know I want to take you, too:_

_Leave with the moon!”_

Raspy shadow-voice and silver-strong bell-tones blended once more as the music nearly exploded through the thrumming speakers. Hades knew, without knowing how, that this was the last refrain, and he both ached for it to be over and dreaded the coming end….

_“Love is far too easy,_

_Still there is some meaning!_

_Love is just too easy:_

_The power of life is death!_

_Come and join eternity: cold kiss!”_

He could have sworn a snakelike hiss held onto that last syllable for far longer than strictly necessary, but he applauded with the rest (except Demeter) as Erebus replaced the microphone and the two Pillars of Reality left the stage by way of the stairs at the rear.

Khimeria appeared back behind the microphone stand in a flash of black-edged moonlight, a clipboard in hand and instructions pouring from her lips as the crowd jostled for position. Hades thought he caught a glimpse of Megaera and her sisters in the mix, along with a few interns from Underworld Corps’ upper levels. The white hair of Thanatos was also there, with apple-toned Hermes bouncing on air at Thanatos’ elbow.

_Aww, that’s just too sappy._

Thanatos was gazing misty-eyed at Hermes’ obviously-ecstatic face, pale hair bobbing softly in loose waves as he nodded approval at whatever scheme Hermes was waxing eloquent about.

_Good grief…._

* * *

**_Lover, that was splendid…._ **

_Thank you, my Erebus. You weren’t too bad your Self!_

**_Oh, ha, so clever. Now, where…?_ **

_Right there, plain sight…._

**_Thank you, my beautiful Queen…._ **

_You gonna be okay? You need me to hang close?_

**_No, go help get the little flower ready like she wanted. I’ll be alright. I think I can hold it together tonight._ **

_Okay, then. Here’s your Aidon, have a good time._

**_Don’t have too much fun without me…._ **

_Like I could…!_

“Hello, Aidon. Enjoy the show?”

Erebus chuckled as all he got was a heavily-blushing stare from the King of the Underworld; Ath’s fingers trailed lightly over the right side of his neck as Erebus stepped through Void to flop in the middle of the horseshoe-shaped booth, between Aidon and Demeter, equally distant and close to both of those tense bodies with hanging-open mouths.

He kept his face in a neutral half-smile as Demeter thrashed a few inches away from him. He let his Self be distracted by Khimeria handing over the microphone to Thanatos and Hermes; he followed with his mind as the manager of his nightclub, his darkling little one, flung a thought toward her mate at the end of the bar.

Sappily-thumped piano chords belled out from the speakers, and Hermes began goofily serenading his lover as Thanatos blushed to a ridiculous shade of blue-cheese grey.

Aidon finally managed to stop staring at Erebus, raising his half-full glass of scotch to his lips and taking a slow swallow. He nearly choked, however, as Demeter lost her control and all-but screeched at Erebus in a harpy-toned whisper of terror:

_“What in the cosmos are you?!!?”_

“Owner of this establishment, King of Shadows, and friend to your family….”

“Not _my_ family! You…. You’re the one that…. My Kore’s youngest boy….”

Erebus snarled, once, harsh and dominant, riding down this sproutling’s budding mistake before she could step over the line.

“You should be careful, little grass-blade. You know better than to accuse me of harming my little ones. Your little flower has kept you well-informed, and I will not stand for any insinuations that have no basis in anything but fantastical rumors and fever-dreams of fear.”

“My daughter has been warped in her time here; I can’t believe anything of what she says!”

_Oh, you poor thing, is that really what you think of my Aidon…?_

_Yes, it is, isn’t it…?_

_Well, maybe tonight, they can finally show you how false that hate you hold really is…._

“I can assure you, your daughter knows her own mind far better than most, little grass-blade. She is your daughter, after all, molded after your own heart. How could you think she could be swayed by anyone’s influence if she didn’t want to be swayed…?”

He could see the wary comprehension in those purple-rimmed eyes, and he turned back to the stage as Hermes, skipping through the air, dragged Thanatos off the stage and over to the bar. A pair of satyrs mounted the stage then, not even bothering to move around to the stairs: they just leapt over the curtain-draped edge and scrambled for the microphone. Heartbeat drums and lilting pipes filled the space of Heart of Void, and warbling voices rang out in haunting melody, a tale of heartbreak and sorrow and unfulfilled hope.

A few tables emptied, couples and others making their way onto the dance floor to sway softly to the oddly-beautiful harmonies the satyrs brought to life with their hearts.

Hades cleared his throat, obviously longing to go find his Queen and escape this awkward encounter, but Erebus pointed two fingers at his chest with his left hand, bobbing his wrist so his fingers gestured imperiously downward a few times. “Sit, Aidon.”

“I’m going to go find where Perseph-….”

“Sit, I said. She’s fine, she’s getting ready, and you’ll be informed when the time is right.”

“Time…. Very funny, Lord of Its Passing.”

“Wasn’t meant as a pun, King of Souls. I’m simply obeying your Queen and mine, keeping you here until they’re ready for you to wow us all with your masterful performance.”

Aidon gulped audibly, the sound thick over a lull in the pipes and drums of the satyr pair’s mournful song.

“What do you mean? We’re performing together….”

“Performing!?!? You’re going to have my daughter prancing about like a harlot on that stage up there?!?!??”

Aidon crashed to his feet, but Erebus drew Demeter’s attention with a violent _push_ against her aura.

“Do. Not. Ever. Speak. That. Way. Again….”

Demeter swallowed heavily, panting through flaring nostrils as she found her Self unable to look away from the savage intensity Erebus leveled at her.

“You really have no idea who your daughter is, but that’s not because she’s changed beyond your ken. It’s because she has grown into the Queen she was always meant to be, who she was born to be, and you refuse to accept the Truth of her Shadows now.

“You will sit here, Demeter. You will witness your daughter as she commands your respect and speaks her soul to your heart, in ways not even you can deny. You will do this, because you owe her this, for all the pain your words would cause her, should she hear you ever said them.

“And that is, indeed, a threat. Take it as such, for I make no idle statements.

“Now, Aidon, you will also sit, so I can discharge my obligation to our Queens, and we can attempt to salvage some semblance of friendly companionship from this evening….”

Aidon lowered his body stiffly to the booth once more, and Demeter almost collapsed as Erebus finally released her from his power.

_Shit._

_Well, they brought that out of me right fast, didn’t they…?_

_Hell._

_But honestly, she really shouldn’t be so…._

_And Aidon, I mean…. I understand that need, well I do, but…._

_He would have killed this sproutling, all for one tiny insult…._

_I know he’s a little frazzled, but…._

“I’m getting too old for this shit….”

And Aidon laughed, easing back from deadly rage at the whimsy of Erebus’ seeming-pretend weariness.

_Oh, little one…._

_That wasn’t quite a joke…._

The violent little trio of Erinyes took the stage as the satyrs hopped down, and a raucously-pounding beat crashed through the air as all three heads of writhing snake-locks began whipping in circular motions; the grey Erinye even strummed her hands on air as if she was thrashing out a melody on a guitar, and Erebus smiled with tolerant amusement as the furious little ones whipped the crowd into a frenzy of excitement with their antics.

He relaxed a little into the cushions behind his back, eyes drifting closed as he lost his Self for a while in the crashing music filling his nightclub’s echoing spaces.

Until a warm hand wrapped in sudden urgency around his arm just above the elbow, and he opened his eyes slowly to wide-flaring red-rimmed ones inches from his nose.

“Erebus, what the hell?!”

“Ssssorry, little one…. ‘Sssssss jussst harder to ssstay bound thessse daysss…. I’m alright, really….”

Pulling his flesh back to cohesive wholeness, Erebus let the mist and smoke fade from the blurred fringes of his body. The worry crinkling the corners of his Aidon’s eyes and furrowing the space between his brows left a twinge around his slowly-beating heart.

“You’re sure? Should I get Ath, or Refsi, or…?”

“No, I’m fine, really.” Wriggling his hips in an unintentionally supple motion, his straightened a little on the bench. “Was jussst enjoying the music, that’s all….” Swallowing once, he bound the shadow of his inner Self’s snake-form a little tighter, striving for coherency as he writhed inside his skin. “I shouldn’t have relaxed. I have a fuckin’ job to do, after all!”

_Erebus, they’re ready…._

“Speaking of which, your track should begin playing momentarily, little one. Do you need a refill before you take the stage?”

Aidon thumped limply back onto his ass on the bench beside Erebus, throwing down the last of his scotch with a grimace before thunking the glass to the tabletop. “Nope. I’m fine.”

“Sure. I can’t wait to see what you’ve got planned for us….”

Aidon leveled a stony glare at Demeter across the table. The sproutling looked nearly terrified out of her wits, but her eyes were nearly as hard as Aidon’s as the King of the Underworld took in a deep breath.

“Demeter, you need to know that your daughter, my wife, is the Queen of the Underworld in her own right. She has power apart from mine, power that was born in her long before I ever met her. And tonight, she wants you to see all of us. She planned this, down to the song, the outfits, everything.

“This is how she wants to explain it to you, and I bend for my Queen’s pleasure.

“Hate me if you must for whatever reason you feel justified in choosing. But stop making my wife, the love of my immortal existence, hurt because you feel a little lonely.

“You’ve always been welcome here, and that will never change.

“If you want her to visit you up there, perhaps you should visit down here in turn. Just a suggestion, but I hope you’ll consider it.

“In any case, you’re our guest here, on this longest night of the year, when our power, our realm, is at its greatest. Enjoy yourself, and I hope you enjoy the show….”

Erebus nodded his head once as a rousing multi-voiced chorus belted out bouncing-and-crashing notes through the speakers all over the nightclub’s walls, followed nearly-immediately by pounding drumbeats, **one**.

**_One-two_ ** _._

Aidoneus rose from the booth, straightening his collar nearly imperceptibly as a spotlight turned to shine upon him at Khimeria’s subtle insistence from where she was posted at the darkest, farthest corner of the bar.

_Whoa-ah-oh-oh-whoa!_

**_Thump._ **

**_Thump-thump_.**

Rhythmic beats matched to Aidoneus’ prowling strides as he began making his way through the crowd still swarming the dance floor; those shifting bodies parted like leaves on a rippling brook when a fallen branch breaches the flow, and many of them watched in rapt awe-struck enthusiasm as darkness began trailing from the King’s shoulders and hips and feet, marking him in power….

Erebus spared a glance for Demeter; she was watching, as rapt and attentive as any of the rest of the patrons in Heart of Void tonight, and the soft consideration that shadowed her eyes let him know she’d see this through….

_Good._

_Enough hate._

_Let’s make this a night to remember…._

As Aidoneus grasped the microphone stand with delicately-curved fingers, subtly caressing the metal in an obviously sensual touch, Erebus felt his lips lift in a feral snarl.

_Oh, is that how it’s gonna be, Aidon…?_

_Oh yeah. I’m definitely not letting you do that, without me doing this…._

Erebus flicked his fingers as he flung a thought toward Khimeria’s hyper-concentrating mind.

_Don’t worry about the shadows, little darkling. Let me have some fun with this…._

_[You got it, boss.]_

_Show time…._

* * *

Hades gripped the mic-stand loosely, concentrating on the building roar of sound from the speakers all through this echoing darkling space, waiting for the final pulses of the crescendo that would lead into his own lyrics and performance. He tried to avoid making eye contact with any of the jostling crowd below his position on the slightly-elevated stage:

Being King didn’t make performing in front of employees and various other underlings any easier.

Nerves were running high, but he would not let his Queen down.

The final notes were there, finally, belted out by a recorded chorus in enthusiasm and deep feeling.

_Whoa-ah-oh-oh-whoa!_

**_Thump_**.

“ _Ladies and gents, this is the moment you’ve waited for.”_

He let his voice drop more than an octave from his usual cavernous baritone, lips close to the head of the microphone so he barely had to open his mouth. As the next chorus-break faded, he let his left hand slide down the stand a few inches, fingers trailing, letting his mind drift back to the year before, at that dingy little dive in a backwater in Georgia.

_“Been searchin’ in the dark, your sweat soakin’ through the floor.”_

He felt coiling power all around him, knew it wasn’t his own. Flicking his eyes left and right, he saw billowing shadows, writhing up from the stage like fog from a pond’s too-warm surface in the deep of winter.

_“Buried in your bones, there’s an ache that you can’t ignore:”_

He focused on Erebus’ face, pale in the darkness of the seating area beyond the dance floor, an obviously-playful smirk twisting coal-dusted lips and setting off small wrinkles at the corner of wine-dark eyes.

_“Takin’ your breath, stealin’ your mind,_

_And all that was real is left behind….”_

Hades followed the music’s insistence, ripping the microphone from the stand with his left hand and leaning toward the edge of the stage, his right hand tilting the chrome pole with him as he bobbed a little from the waist. His hair flopped over his brow, and he felt sweat beginning to prick him as his suit began to feel too hot, too tight, as power his own and Other swirled and mingled, enhancing the spectacle he was becoming on this longest night, the Underworld’s first and most-important holiday.

_“Don’t fight it; it’s comin’ for ya, runnin’ at ya!_

_It’s only this moment; don’t care what comes after!_

_It’s a fever-dream: can’t ya see?_

_It’s gettin’ closer._

_Just surrender, ‘cause ya feel the feelin’ takin’ over!”_

Rocking back to vertical with a spine-cracking motion, Hades let go the mic-stand, bringing his now-free hand up to push and grip in his hair, snarling the wavy silver locks into crazed-seeming enthusiasm; the smokes and mists Erebus had called into being all over the stage around him began dancing with somehow jerking, twitching movements, pulsing with almost-colors as the music built and carried the crowd along the flood of pure unleashing and utter one-ness with their King and God.

_“It’s fire, it’s freedom, it’s flyin’ open!_

_It’s the preacher in the pulpit and you bought the potion._

_There’s somethin’ breakin’ at the brick of every wall that’s holdin’ all that you know!_

_So tell me: do you wanna go?!”_

The smoke flashed with a deep navy hue, and Hades felt something call to him, deep in his chest, near his heart.

_Oh shit…._

The cold of midnight skies began stealing over his skin, hidden behind his too-warm shirt, but Hades knew there was nothing he could do. He felt the power of his realm, stronger than it had ever been after more than four thousand years of accepting mortal souls, and on this night, holier than anything in his life except his Queen’s affection and devotion to their life together:

The Underworld would have its way, and the King of Fertile Earth would come out to dance with his Queen….

If only she would show up…!

_But in the meantime…._

_“Where it’s covered in all the colored lights._

_Where the runaways are runnin’ the night!_

_Impossible comes true; it’s takin’ over you._

_This is the greatest show!_

_We light it up; we won’t come down,_

_And the sun can’t stop us now!_

_Watchin’ it come true, it’s takin’ over you!_

_This is the greatest show!”_

The music shifted to the bridge, and Hades had never been more grateful for his Queen’s tendency to shorten his discomfort wherever she could. The darkness of his realm’s power was creeping past his collarbones now, and one slightly-panicking glance at Erebus let him know it wasn’t going unnoticed by the more aura-and-psychic-senses observant beings in this nightclub’s thundering expanse.

_Where **is** she?!?!_

_“It’s everything I’ll ever want._

_It’s everything I’ll ever need._

_And it’s here, right in front of me:_

_This is where I wanna be!”_

And then his Dread and Life was there, moving up beside him with a microphone of her own, and her gown was all smoke and starlight, draping her in elegance and power, and her crown shone brilliantly in the hot light that poured around them where they stood just steps from the edge of the stage and the ravening crowd.

Her voice blended in honey-sweet tones with his guttural rasping one as his skin darkened beyond control, as a power-born wind rose in this enclosed space, as the smoke and mist pulsed with ever-shifting colors as if backlit by hidden strobes of infinite and random hue:

_“It’s everything I’ll ever want._

_It’s everything I’ll ever need._

_And it’s here, right in front of me.”_

Hades ground out the line she’d commanded he give alone, eyes locked on hers as the white faded from his and her own:

“ _Is this where you wanna be…?”_

The Dread Queen of the Underworld, Persephone, Praxidike and Spring’s Life Its Self shot into the air, completely out of reach unless he too took to the air.

Somehow, he knew he wouldn’t be able to; not like this, not bound to his fertile earth, even though he technically was not touching it at the moment.

He could only stare enraptured up at his beautiful and powerful Queen and heart as her bell-clear voice blasted forth, backed by power and love and utter truth in her own Self and role:

_“This is where I wanna be!”_

Hades could only pant raggedly as she locked her eyes on his: redder than blood, and black vines threading down from her crown as the tingles of stars never found in reality speckled his skin. He barely registered the crowd chanting the refrain as their Queen floated back down toward her King, the billows and columns of smoke still shifting to mimic the “colored lights,” the rhythmic thumps of hundreds of feet and sharp snaps of clapping hands keeping the time until their destined lyrics swung back around and swept them under once more.

Aidoneus and Persephone sang together, eyes on a level, and for once, the King of the Underworld reveled in revealing his truth in flesh to others who should and most likely would fear it:

They would know who he and she both were, the shadows of their life laid bare.

No more hiding….

_“This is the greatest show!_

_Where it’s covered in all the colored lights,_

_And the runaways are runnin’ the nights!_

_Impossible comes true, it’s takin’ over you!_

_This is the greatest show!_

_We light it up, we won’t come down:”_

Whipping together then, to face into the crowd, finding Demeter’s wide-eyed face as if they were magnets and she a lodestone of immense capacity, as this final, unarguable point was brought to life in their altered lyrics.

_“And the rules won’t stop us now!_

_Watchin’ it come true, it’s takin’ over you:_

_This is the greatest show!”_

Holding that last note, turning back to gaze hungrily into each other’s eyes, Hades struggled to hold his Self and himself together. He knew his Queen would need to speak to her mother, make it clear in case it wasn’t already, and then….

Then, he could take her home….

Let the party rage on all night long.

He would celebrate the darkness of the solstice in the arms of his Life and Light….

She took his hand, and he followed her down the stairs at the back of the stage, utterly enraptured at the black vines that threaded her hair, wrapped her arms….

Black vines, studded with the tiniest pink-white flowers he’d ever seen:

Protea, shrunken to fit the vines they never would grace without the hard-as-iron will of Spring’s Dread commanding them.

They spoke in spiky petals of change and transformation, daring and resourcefulness….

_Courage…._

_Pure and unfiltered as the darkness of this longest night…._

_Bold and brash as the coming dawn…._

_My Queen…._

They neared the table where Demeter still sat, staring, and where Erebus reclined into the cushion behind him at the center of the booth’s arching width, his own Queen leaning over the back of the thing so her hands wrapped around his torso in gentle binding love.

Hades’ Queen pulled her fingers from his own, and he took in a rasping breath as she started to speak to the one who gave her life so long ago….

“Mother, I belo-….”

“Stop, Ko-…. Persephone, please stop…. I…. I’m sorry….”

The long-limbed green goddess rose to her feet, her arms held to either side of her body in silent request as her words continued fluttering softer than eiderdown through chilled air to her daughter.

“I was wrong. I’m so sorry. I should never have forced you like that. You…. You are truly the Queen here, I… I can’t deny what my own soul felt tonight….

“Can you forgive me? And…. Can I come for a visit sometime soon? See the little ones?

“I’ve missed so much, and I want to make this all right….”

The Queen of the Underworld hesitated only a heartbeat’s breath before she clawed her way into her mother’s embrace. And Hades felt the dark and fertile power leave him as he realized he couldn’t take her away from this reunion, this forgiving, this love….

He would wait….

His slowly-fading eyes found Erebus’ dark-flaring blood-red ones, and the smirk he saw in the soft wrinkles around those wide-opened eyes had him wondering just how much of his reactions had truly been his own tonight.

**_All of them, Aidon._ **

**_You’re finally who you should have been, too…._ **

**_Happy Solstice, my King of Fertile Earth…._ **

_…. Thanks, Erebus, but stop that…._

A wicked grin split both Erebus’ and Ath’s faces, and Persephone turned back to him to see what that was all about, obviously having caught sight of the smirking Titans in her peripheral vision.

He could only shake his head as he collapsed to the bench in helpless bellowing laughter, the King of Shadows cackling with him as another minor deity took the stage and nervously began singing about winter’s darkness and the seeds of roses seeking the sun’s warmth in spring….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cold Kiss has long been one of my favorites by Amberian Dawn, a delightful heavy-metal melodic-rock band from Finland. They got a new lead vocalist in 2012, and they are.... *chef's kiss*.... Absolutely divine. This song just SCREAMS Void to me - Erebus and Ath-naa totes love it, and I hope you do, too!
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHzcrgv_Bo
> 
> I promised in the Discord that there would be Greatest Showman-inspired fic. This may be just the first, though I make no promises....
> 
> Obviously, here's that link -
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyVYXRD1Ans


	2. Renewal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the Greatest Show at Heart of Void, Erebus and Ath-naa take some time to renew and revel in the memories of their long-as-thought life together.
> 
> It is their anniversary, after all....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A couple more small teasers in here that build on some in the previous chapter.
> 
> AND MY STRANGEST STRANGE-FORM INTIMACY EVER!
> 
> You've been warned. It's beyond strange. It's so far from anything else I've ever written, but.... 
> 
> I was thirsty, and the Muses were happy to oblige.

Erebus held Ath’s left hand in his right as they moved from the booth Aidon and the little flower and the sproutling had claimed for their own as the party wore on. Angling past his little darkling Queen, the manager of his night club, he smiled softly at his daughter-in-law.

“That was awesome, boss-man. Definitely made it one helluva show!”

“Yeah, Papa. Excellent….”

He could only smile, but they understood.

They’d understood for years….

It was harder and harder to stay bound in this flesh his will created….

More than seven millenniums was a dreadful long time, and the things that gave him joy seemed to require less and less words to express his overfull heart….

One midnight-blue hand passed the small shot-glass to Ath’s silver clutches, and together, he and his Queen slid into their booth, the stardust-and-smoke curtains sliding closed with a thought, providing sheer-silk almost-privacy in this darkest corner of his wedding present.

Contentment beyond compare filled his Self and soul as he angled his head for a gently-drowning kiss from his wife’s heather-dark lips.

After a heavy while, he pulled back, reaching slowly for the glass on the table. He drained it with practiced motion, and let her snuggle closer to his chest, nearly climbing on top of him, as the energy of Life he relied upon began filling his Self with pulsing warmth and tingling light.

He purred softly into her hair as she snuck softly-nipping kisses against his chest.

**_My love, I may have overestimated my composure this evening…. I all but scared the royal pants off my Aidon whilst you were helping the little flower get dressed._ **

_I gathered. He seems to have recovered, though…._

**_He was never a coward…._ **

_Well, what do you think you want tonight, then?_

**_Anything you need…._ **

_…. That’s my line._

**_I love you…._ **

_Still sappier than milkweed, lover._

**_And you still love it._ **

_I do. How I do…._

She licked a bold stripe over the swell of his left pectoral then, ending with a flicking glance of the tip of her tongue over the black mass of scarred memory three inches above his heart. Her fingers traced down the scar in the middle of his chest, all sixteen inches of coal-and-silver reminder of her love and power:

Both scars and so many others hidden beneath the not-fabric he wore, neckline held closed with Void-silk ties and knots, keeping the memories close and preventing so much pain and fear in others….

He breathed in deeply as she followed that longer-than-pain line, and then her lips found his again as she stretched up on her knees on the bench beside him.

_I love you now, my Shadow, more than I did when you sang to me on our wedding day. When you danced with me on that dead patch of winter-kissed earth. When you held me close and bent me beneath you as you told me everything I was to you…._

**_I love you, my Truth…. More than I have words…. I’ll nevvver havvve the wordsss…._ **

_Oh, my Erebus…._

**_I’m tryyying…. It’sss haaard…._ **

_I know…. Shall we go home? Khi has this party well in hand, I do believe._

He nodded, feeling the blurring wash caress his flesh in insistent ripples.

She straddled his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck, and he kissed her as he took them through the Void with a thought.

They landed on the couch in their living room with a soft brushing sound of Void-fabric meeting Void-fabric, and Erebus kissed his Queen as he let go the wall.

It had taken months of passionate nights with his Queen and his other lovers, months of mind-melting ecstasy and pleasure and pain beyond description before he’d lost this last control for the first time. His flesh gone in a thought, and his Self laid bare, supple coils of darkness-made-reality, every ethereal nerve-ending firing in constant thunder through his mind….

He’d nearly gone even more insane than he sometimes still was….

But his Queen’s sterling-and-starlight voice had held him together, and long minutes of exposed terror and overstimulation later, he’d finally been able to clothe his Self once more in the flesh he’d chosen so long ago he could hardly imagine appearing in reality in any other way.

His first wall, his original shield:

His body, pale where his Self was smoke, solid where his soul was mistyness.

Over the long centuries since, he and his Queen and lovers had experimented with intentionally removing his Self from his flesh…. Over time, over practice and trust in his companions and mate, he’d come to enjoy the utter open feeling of being his purest Self in reality.

And as the long years rolled by, something had shifted….

He needed to shed his pale skin more and more frequently…. Needed that complete awareness, that terrifying openness, this most intimate of experiences that left marks upon his Self in trust and love and belonging….

He let go the wall now, and his darkness unwound beneath her body in muscular lengths that rippled with power unbound, that sang in slithering motion with love beyond price and tenderness past thinking….

His tail coiled in upon itself to cradle her in mimicry of his lap and bent knees that no longer existed in reality. Her arms still wrapped behind his neck as his hair turned to a ruff of drifting tendrils of smoke and shadow. Tingling flickers of lightning sparked up where her chest bent in softness against the supple column of his body’s length….

Her lips shifting to kiss atop his “nose,” inches up from the edge of his blunted jaws toward his wide-set, moon-huge and rose-soft eyes….

He hissed out a breathless snicker as she smirked at him….

“There you are, my shadow-snake….”

He nudged her jaw with his nose, the tip of his tail trailing swirling patterns into the skin of her left calf as she leaned a little away from him.

“So, how do you want to play tonight…? Shall I take, or do you want me to give?”

**_Bothhh…._ **

“Greedy Shadow…. Fine…. I take first. Sound good?”

**_Yesss._ **

“Excellent. Upstairs, my King.”

She stood beside their couch then, flickering through her Void to give him the room he needed.

After years of being this for her, he knew just what she wanted to see, and he was more than happy to provide.

Especially because her desire was his: perfect match, delectable mirror….

He unwound from the couch, draping in sensual motion to the floor before moving away from her in rippling lengths of not-muscle. Smoke and mist billowed up from under his Self-form, and the walls and floor of their home turned the almost-unmaking into energy, absorbing and channeling it in ways so like their own bodies.

He kept his head and a substantial length of almost-neck raised off the floor, swaying softly back and forth in counter-rhythm to the rest of his body’s movements, dancing almost as he got closer and closer to the stairs.

More than fourteen feet of supple silky-mistyness, he writhed between the banister rails, weaving a melody of humming-hissing-purring as he reveled in his Self-form’s movement, the naturalness of _being_ , the completed wholeness of his Life….

Holding tight to the rails behind him, he stretched around the door frame leading into their bedroom in the lofted space here above the floor; the feel of gravity begging for his surrender was heady, but the need to obey his Queen, his love, his heart, his wife, outweighed the tempting call….

Not that it would actually kill him if he fell, but the habits of a life bound in flesh were hard to ignore even after shedding that skin….

Wrapping his neck around the railing along the edge of their bedroom floor, he made the transition to the upper level with a supple ease any arboreal snake made of flesh would envy.

And he would know….

He’d had quite a few “pets” over the years since their little ones grew up and grew away: he had been beyond grateful to his Queen once she’d commanded him to try that idea. It filled the lonely dark spaces of his heart, and granted him the opportunity to discover new things about his own Self’s desires and needs, and all while interacting with living beings in a new-to-him experience long years overdue. He’d never really dealt with animal companions in any depth before, and he’d thoroughly enjoyed every one of his serpentine adopted children before they left their flesh for the misty reaches of the Underworld’s fields and forests….

In fact, he’d enjoyed his children so much that he’d begun financially supporting an Underworld pet-porium or three that were now specializing in various reptiles and amphibians of the serpentine varieties. And as the modern mortal realm grew up around their home in their little valley, he’d made many investments in herpetological associations dedicated to preserving these beautiful creatures that sang with souls like his own….

So long denying his Self’s nature in reality, he reveled now in the sheer physical _fun_ of moving in the way he was made to move….

Her soft footsteps, silent though they were, still thundered through his sensitive almost-skin as he clung to the railing, his head laid back along a coil of his body as he watched for her to enter through their bedroom door.

And when she finally did, her smirk was verging on lifting into a demanding snarl.

**_You onlyyy sssaid upssstairsss, myyy Queen…. I’m upssstairsss…._ **

And she laughed loudly, then, and he smiled as best he could with a mouth made of little more than shifting shadows as he hissed a psychic laugh in harmony with her own….

Stardust sparkled along his body in swirling nebulas of almost-light, and the spiraling darkness in the center of his long-and-longer body slowed like his physical heart would have if he hadn’t shed that skin for the night.

“I did, didn’t I…? Well…. I want you on the bed, my sneaky snake. I want you on your belly, your back up, and I want you laid out straight. Let your tail coil on the floor, though, you crazy-long thing.”

He stretched to the floor, writhing slowly but powerfully to cross the distance to the foot of their bed. He hauled his bulk up onto the mattress with nothing but intent and will, and then he proceeded to arrange his body as his Queen had commanded so thoroughly.

She followed him onto the bed, moving to straddle him in her usual spot, somewhere between the space where his heart would have been if he were still only seven-and-a-half feet of flesh and bone formed from thought and power, and where that form’s ass would have been:

About a third of the way down his body as it now was, halfway down the length of him that was laid over their bedsheets in a nearly-straight, thoroughly-relaxed line of misting darkness.

“Same rule as ever, my King. Tell it to me.”

**_I mussst not commme undooone, untilll I havvve your perrrmissssion…._ **

“Beautiful, my Erebus.”

And then her fingers were on him, grinding into the upper surfaces of his almost-skin, and mist and lightning floated away from him in dregs as she stoked his desire.

Her palms skating and kneading in her fingers’ wake, leaving warmth beyond price and a roaring hunger that built as snow on a mountainside before the slide of destruction spawned by echoes in the valley below.

Her hips rocked gently over the section of his body beneath her ass, and he began purring and hissing in time with her rhythms as that motion, too, fueled his arousal at a greater rate than it did her own….

But still, more slowly than ever before, near-eons of practice in these pleasures and playtimes easing the way, keeping him hovering in sensation for minutes on end before their combined results threatened his control with promises of release.

**_Pleassse, lover…._ **

“Please, what?”

She should not sound so smug….

**_I neeeed to commme…._ **

“Not. Yet.”

And though he hissed out a snarling growl, he submitted to her will with a thrill of pleasure.

**_My Queen…._ **

He rode the storm of her touch and motion for long minutes more, and he felt the shift as her own tortured flesh began to scream for more.

She wouldn’t keep him waiting this time, and he took full advantage….

**_Now, pleassse…? I neeeeed thisss, pleassse!_ **

Pitiful in his pleas, desperate in his desire, and she would submit, he knew….

“ _Not_. _Yet_ ….”

**_What?!!?_ **

**_Fuuuck…._ **

It took everything he had, tensing his Self-form as if he could bite down on the nothing that his pleasure truly was, striving to bind the impending explosion as she defied his expectations….

With an effort, he managed it, and she kissed a soft line down what should have been his spine, starting at the base of his ruff of shadows and only ending when she could bend double no further.

“Well done, my Shadow. You please me greatly…. You may let go this next time. I give you your permission….”

**_Thhhank you…._ **

She continued pleasuring his almost-skin with her hands and lips and hips, and he climbed steadily higher, into the heady not-air of a mountain peak made of nothing but sensation and desire and precious love bound in flesh and soul and Self….

**_My…._ **

**_Kaaah-kiiidiiikeeehhh…!_ **

He broke, shuddering and thrashing so that she had to slip up onto her knees so he wouldn’t completely toss her across the bed. He felt her sharing his release with him along the fringes of his mind, and his tail uncoiled along the floor, the tip thumping against the railings along the edge of their loft as he lost all control.

He hissed and purred and sang for his Queen in half-formed sounds only she could understand, because all they meant was pleasure at her touch….

Finally, the storm faded, the lightning and smoke and mistyness her touch had commanded he experience dissolving to dregs, absorbed entirely by their home’s power, fueling their home’s power….

She laid down on his right side, nearly on top of his body, only because her left arm and leg wrapped him in warmth and pleasure.

“I’m assuming you need a little time, my Shadow, after that _delectable_ release….”

He turned his Self-form’s wedge-blunt head to nuzzle against her left cheek.

There were no words….

“Good thing this is the longest night of the year. We can take all the time you need…. After all, Time was always yours, as well the shadows….”

Finally regaining some control over his rebellious shape, he bent and twisted, pulling his body entirely onto the bed so he could twist and twine his coils of shadow around her, mimicking her embrace of him with folds of darkness soft and cool and thicker than her own thighs put together.

She snuggled tighter to him, nuzzling him in return, the tip of her pointed nose brushing over the silver Omega-shaped line that marked his almost-throat, that marked him as hers in flesh and heart and Self and soul….

The only silver mark upon this not-quite-body made of the darkness that borders all bright truths, the only mark that mattered as the long years rolled past.

**_Yoursss, alwaysss…._ **

_For all eternities, my King…._

They drifted in the cosmic heartbeat, their minds mingling in unremembered dreams and the faint shadows of memories as time ceased to mean anything in truth….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so proud of this. It came out much better than I expected. 
> 
> I've wanted to work up to Erebus' shedding his physical skin for a while. I think I needed this done as if he's already experienced this many times, so that I have more of an idea of how I want to do that first-shed experience and some of the other practice sessions in Born of Time and Memory. 
> 
> So, with this to whet your appetites, 
> 
> be prepared for even more Stranger-than-Strange-form Intimacy in Born of Time and Memory!


End file.
